1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an apparatus and method of reconstructing a three-dimensional (3D) clothing model, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method of reconstructing a 3D clothing model which reconstruct an appearance of a 3D model of real clothing and transform into an appropriate form for a simulation using image information on the real clothing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent advancement and spread of sensors to measure depth information on images facilitate reconstruction of various shapes of objects into three-dimensional (3D) forms. Here, the objects reconstructed into the 3D forms are provided to users via visualization or simulation through devices and are applicable to various fields.
As a representative application, there is a user-oriented clothing service which provides users with a clothing experience service using virtual 3D clothing. The user-oriented clothing service, which uses virtual 3D clothing, provides various services of enabling a user to try on clothes on-line or customizing clothes.
Here, the user-oriented clothing service provides a cloth simulation controlling movements of virtual 3D clothing corresponding to user movements. The cloth simulation enables a user to see wearing clothing without directly trying on the clothing, and thus mistakes by the user in purchasing clothes may be minimized.
However, the user-oriented clothing service has no method for continuously providing virtual 3D clothes for user experience. In detail, the user-oriented clothing service uses a method of creating clothes using computer graphics authoring tools, such as Autodesk Maya, and a method of making virtual clothing by constructing a virtual 3D model using patterns of real clothing. Here, the method using the authoring tools is a classical method used for making costumes of game or movie characters and involves difficulty in digitalizing real clothing. Also, the method of making the virtual clothing, as in making real clothing, generates virtual patterns based on the patterns, integrates the virtual patterns to produce a 3D model and attaches the 3D model to a virtual character, thereby producing virtual clothing.
Here, clothing with pleats, for example, a female dress, involves a draping process to maintain a smooth shape, which is tricky to automate because a fashion sense is required. Moreover, virtual clothing production has different working environments from real clothing production, making it difficult for a designer to do the job.
Another problem of the method using the pattern occurs when there is no pattern, for example, since clothing is made before a system is applied or clothing is imported. When there is no pattern, pattern data is extracted by scanning clothing put on a mannequin using a 3D scanner so as to obtain a pattern, and digital clothing is made using the extracted pattern. This method, however, needs manual processes by experts for a long time and thus is inappropriate for making clothes.
Manual processes include separating a clothing area from shape data of a 3D mesh configuration of the 3D scanned clothing and lowering complexity of a mesh, removing a hole generated in scanning, generating texture information on the clothing in a form, or the like. To extract a pattern from shape data, a pattern extracting process by an expert through a graphic user interface (GUI) is necessary. To apply the generated form to a virtual clothing experience, parameter setting considering properties of the clothing, such as stretchiness and weightiness of the clothing, and combined parts with an avatar need to be defined. That is, time and a labor-intensive process are necessary to convert current real clothing into clothing for digital experience through 3D scanning.
Accordingly, there is presented a method of automating a digitizing process of real clothing for a virtual clothing fitting service for manufacturers having data on clothing, such as patterns, and distributors having no clothing data, thereby facilitating making digital clothing of the real clothing for experience without expert knowledge.